That Monday, school was a serious trial. Of course, it was never much better, especially since they had been dropped from the soccer team. But today was particularly rough. The lingering effects of the weekend’s exercises fitted around Sean’s brain like a blanket. Everything came through slightly muffled. Whenever he managed to fully focus, all he could think about were the wasted hours he was forced to endure in class.
In elementary school the powers that be had decided it would be best to separate him and Dillon. The idea was, the twins could then develop their own identities free from each other. That lasted, like, three days. Until the teachers got together and compared notes and realized that the twins were bouncing back and forth between classes, working the system. No reason, except they liked playing with everybody’s heads. So they were dumped in the same class. Permanently.
Today Dillon was one seat removed, and the desk between them was empty. First class was geography, the teacher was one of Sean’s favorites, but still he felt like the lesson was just another dentist’s drill working on his poor head.
Dillon positioned his notebook so Sean could see and wrote, Arghhhh.
Sean shifted his pad slightly and replied, Another nine days of this until summer recess.
Just shoot me.
That was pretty cool, waking me up yesterday with a little tune from the Serenese hit parade.
Dillon smirked at his page. I have to tell you, bro, I wish I was there right now. The lady singer is hot.
You saw her?
No need. I know a hottie when I hear one. By the way, she’s only got eyes for me.
Not what she told me last night.
We spending this afternoon walking through walls?
We’ll find out in—Sean checked the wall clock—five hours and eleven minutes.
Dillon groaned. I’m dying here.
Two different ice ages came and went between first period and the lunch bell. Sean drifted off twice, something he normally never did. He was rewarded in math by the teacher slamming the ruler onto Sean’s desk. When Sean jerked back to full alert, he smacked his head-wound on the side wall. At least Dillon showed the courtesy to wince.
At lunchtime they walked the hall together. Completely disconnected from the scene. Actually, the noise hurt Sean’s ears, like he was hungover for no reason. Up ahead the din rising from the cafeteria was a drill waiting to take aim at his skull. Dillon must have felt the same, because he was moving slower than Sean. They let the tide sweep around them until the hall was empty.
Dillon muttered, “I don’t know how much of this I can take.”
“Right there with you.”
Dillon leaned on a locker and swiped at his face. “Is it always going to make us feel like we’ve got the flu?”
“I don’t—” Sean stopped in mid-complaint when he heard a girl whimper.
Together he and Dillon hurried on down the empty hallway.
The cafeteria jutted from the rear of the school to their left. Straight ahead were the playing fields. The gym was off to their right. Sean rounded the corner and heard the girl say, “Get away from me.”
Sean instantly recognized the guy’s voice. “All I want to do is talk.”
He and Dillon stepped into view as the girl snapped, “I am so totally through talking to you.”
The hall leading to the gym held glass-fronted display cases containing trophies for academic and sports achievements. All the stuff nobody ever looked at. There were semi-hidden alcoves where the cabinets ended and doorways opened, janitorial and coach offices and stuff. Eric was standing with his back to the hall, holding Carey Havilland in one of those niches as he said, “We dated for, like, five months. That doesn’t mean enough for you to listen?”
“You’re not talking. You’re threatening.” Carey struggled against his grip. “Now let me go.”
Carey Havilland possessed a beauty that Sean thought of as lyrical. As though she had been born for a different age, one where sonnets were written in her honor. But life had not been overly kind to her. The first week of school the previous year, she had lost her mother in a traffic accident. Carey disappeared for a while, and when she came back, the teachers all treated her like she was made of crystal.
Carey was not fragile in form, yet there was a tender quality to her gaze and her smile that had Sean and Dillon both wishing they could make everything better for this amazingly sweet and beautiful girl.
She was defined by things that set her apart from the cliques of other lovely girls. She wore no makeup. She chose clothes that looked utterly out of fashion. Not punk, not grunge, not chic. Carey was basically friends with everyone, and yet she never dated. Until Eric entered the picture.
Eric was the star of both the football and the basketball team, the guy most likely to go where he wanted and be whatever. One day Eric became the guy driving her home. For a while, Carey and Eric had been the school’s hot item. Then abruptly the whole deal was off. Sean and Dillon rarely talked about Carey, because they both wished they could be the guy at her side.
Now Sean watched as Dillon started toward them. Like his brother was connected to alarm bells at some level below thought. The cry went out, and super-Dillon sprang into action, while anybody else would still be figuring out what they had just heard. Which was, “You’re hurting me.”
“You heard Carey,” Dillon said. “Step back and let her go.”
Eric’s problem was, he thought he deserved the world on a string. The guy everybody else sort of envied and hated and wished they could be. Eric was graduating in nine days and already had a scholarship to play ball at UF. He was blond and he was big and he always got what he wanted. And what he clearly wanted just then was for Dillon to, “Bug off.”
“No problem,” Dillon said. “Soon as the lady says everything’s cool.”
Eric switched stances to look behind him. He took a second to recognize Dillon. “You got a death wish, Kirrel?”
“This is your last chance.”
“Guys, remove this garbage.” Eric turned back to the squirming girl. “Carey and I have unfinished business.”
Sean did not actually see who Eric was speaking to until the two guys appeared by the gym doors. He realized this was not just a confrontation. This was a setup. For the first time that endless day, Sean’s vision clarified. The guys were the largest of Eric’s crew, two hulking brutes Dillon called Frick and Frack. They liked to walk the halls between class, pretending not to notice as they bounced smaller beings off the walls. Tossing pretend apologies over their shoulders as they marched and chuckled. Sorry. Yuk-yuk. They wore their grins now, and Sean realized they had been stationed where they would guard the gym after Eric pulled Carey in there and used the empty sports center to teach her whatever lesson he had in mind. From the sheer terror on Carey’s face, she had long since figured out this was her fate.
Which was when Sean stepped between the pair and Dillon.
Frack said, “Two for the price of one.”
Without turning around, Dillon asked, “You okay with the Frickettes?”
Sean decided now wasn’t the time for a little chat, as the brutes were closing in. When the first one reached for his neck, Sean extended the force from his gut, forming the same invisible fist he had last used to crack the house’s foundation with his brother playing hammer. Only this time the guys weren’t surrounded by any shield.
The Frickettes went tumbling. They slammed through the gym’s swinging doors. Both doors drummed the side wall and gave off a massive boom that echoed through the empty chamber. The pair tumbled across the court, coming to rest beneath the nearside basket.
Sean followed them inside and ordered, “Stay down.”
The Frickettes were slow in rising, but rise they did. And growl. Sean assumed it was the sort of noise they used to terrify the opposing team’s defensive line. Frack actually lowered himself into a three-point stand.
Sean said, “Really? You think that’s going to work?”
Maybe it was the previous day’s lingering effects, but he could not have been calmer if he’d been sprawled poolside reaching for the sunscreen. Sean didn’t want them walking around describing how some force out of nowhere dismantled their worlds. So he waited until they were up close and personal. Then he reached out, like he was actually shoving them away. And slammed them against the far wall. Just one punch was enough to fell both Frickettes. This time they didn’t get up.
Sean walked back into the hallway to discover Dillon had Eric up against the janitor’s door. The star athlete’s blond hair was all messed up. His team jacket was ripped at the sleeve. His eyes were slightly glazed. Which was hardly a surprise. Because Dillon was gripping him with one hand and slamming him against the steel door leading to the equipment room. Each of Dillon’s invisible hammer blows dislodged the door’s upper hinge a fraction more. The sound was very satisfying. A thud, a squeak from the metal door frame, a grunt from the school star. Another thud. Another squeak. Another grunt.
“Dillon.”
“Yo.”
“Eric has gotten the message.”
“You think?” Another thud. Another grunt. “What do you say, Eric. You going to leave Carey alone permanently?”
With every shove against the door, Dillon’s force compressed Eric from hairline to sneakers. Like he was working up a bowl of mashed athlete.
Sean said, “Enough, Dillon.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right.” Dillon let the guy go.
Eric slumped down and sat sprawled against the seriously damaged door.
Dillon leaned in close and said very softly, “You touch her again, I’ll know. And I’ll hurt you.”
Sean couldn’t be certain, but he thought he saw a flicker of something pass through the guy’s vacant gaze. Confusion, definitely. Maybe a little fear. Just then, though, the high school star was too busy trying to draw a decent breath to do more than cough.
Sean asked Carey, “You all right?”
“Yes.” She leaned over and picked up her purse. But her hands were shaking so hard she upended the thing and all her stuff spilled out.
Dillon dropped to his knees and scooped up the scattered items. “Here you go.”
“Thanks. You’re Dillon, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” Dillon offered her a supporting hand and pretended not to see the tears. “We could go sit on the bleachers outside, give you a chance to catch your breath. Sean can go get you a Coke. Would you like a Coke?”
“I guess . . . A Coke would be good.”
“Sean?”
“On it.” But he stayed there, watching as his brother guided her out the rear doors.
Sean had never heard his brother talk like that before. Smooth and calm and caring. Like he was born to play the guy in the white hat, only neither of them had realized it until right then.
Which made it kind of amazing when Carey said, “My knight in shining armor.”
Dillon’s grin was the only goofy thing about him. “Come on, let’s go pretend this never happened.”